


Seas the Day

by Word_Smith_94



Series: A Demon's Angel [11]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Beaches, Light Angst, M/M, Private Investigators, Self-Doubt, Self-Reflection, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 16:08:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16390907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Word_Smith_94/pseuds/Word_Smith_94
Summary: Dean wants to go on vacation and take his family with him. Sam wants to go along, but he also wonders what people think, when they see him out of his element. Will it change things, seeing him outside of the library? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?





	Seas the Day

**Author's Note:**

> Sam's going through some issues. He's trying to figure out who he is, but feels like that's already been defined for him because of all the research he did for Dean and to convict Bartholomew. Slowly but surely, he'll learn that people love him because he's Sam, not because of his research. At least, that's what his family hopes for him.

“Please, Sam?” 

He’d like to think that he’s immune to the puppy dog eyes looking up at him, but he’s definitely not. Sam sighs and shuts the book on different Earthly cities and resigns himself to a day outside. “Where do you want to go?” He was reading and didn’t really start paying attention until he couldn’t avoid his brother anymore. 

“I want to go to Earth and go back to the private island that Cas took me to that one time, but I want to go with you and Cas and Gabe, make it a family thing.” Dean cocks his head as another thought occurs to him. “And maybe we could invite Lucifer and Michael too.”

Sam does not like the idea of Michael coming. Technically, he’s planning to against the archangel’s orders and go behind his back, If he’s going to try and relax and enjoy his time on the island, being around Michael could make it challenging. But… “It’s your idea, your trip. Invite whoever you want to invite.”

Dean beams at him, bright and happy, and Sam remembers exactly why he can’t say no to that face. It’s his brother, and he loves seeing him this happy, so open. “This time, we’ll keep it just the four of us. I’ll invite Cas, you invite Gabe. Tell him to meet us here in three days, and we’ll be down on Earth for three days.”

“And you’re sure that the island will be available?” From what Sam understands, the island is in pretty high demand, so Dean’s last minute plans might not actually come together. 

He shrugs it off, clearly not concerned. “Then we’ll find somewhere else to go. Wherever it is, we deserve a vacation.” 

If Dean says so. As long as he’s not upset by changes in plans, Sam can be flexible. His preference would be plan things a little more, but it is what it is. He can learn to be a little flexible. Maybe.”Just let me know when to be ready.”

“Yep!” Dean bounces up and gives his brother a hug before heading out of the library. 

Sam stares after him, trying to figure out where his brother gets his optimism and positivity. He can’t imagine getting that excited over something that might not even happen. Looking at the book, Sam considers researching into cities again, but he’s distracted by the idea of the vacation. 

What has he done to earn a vacation? All he does is sit in a library and reads books. Even if there wasn’t something specific to research, like angelic punishments or magic to help Dean, he’d still be sitting and reading books. 

And what’s he supposed to do during four days on an island with no library? All he does is research, with the occasional training session when he can operate the training equipment on his own. Sam has no idea what he’s going to do with himself, and he doesn’t like that feeling. 

Needing something to do, Sam starts looking into camouflaging and deflection magic. Knowing Dean, they won’t actually end up on the island, so they’re going to need a backup to stay for vacation. And if they’re staying on Earth, then they need to conceal themselves, their differences and their magic. 

He’s halfway through the new spells on concealment when he notices someone else in the library with him. Sam pulls an offensive spell in his hand, ready to attack to defend himself, but relaxes when he turns around to see Gabe. “You really shouldn’t sneak up on people like that.” Although Sam really should know that strangers can’t get through their wards on the house. 

Gabriel just smirks and hops up to sit on the table next to Sammy. “Just testing your reflexes. Even with all of the security built into your shelter, you still need to be capable of defending yourself. Especially if you’ll go out and run errands yourself.”

Sam sighs and shakes his head at the angel. “I know how to defend myself, and I know how to make myself appear human. It’s just… this is the  _ library  _ in my house. It’s my personal space, and I let my guard down a little here, sometimes.”

“Not down much though. I wasn’t here longer than thirty seconds before you sensed me.” Gabriel stretches a hand out to ruffle Sam’s hair but hesitates and switches to patting his shoulder. “Your instincts are just fine.”

A little polishing wouldn’t hurt. Even an archangel has to take time to get back into shape before they can charge back into battle. While he might never reach Dean’s level of talent, Sam could easily be a formidable opponent if he focused on his training. 

“I can help you make them even better,” Gabriel offers, moving closer to the boy, resting an arm on his shoulder. “If you want, a little bit of training will go a long way.”

Sam sighs and leans into the angel. He doesn’t know what to do, doesn’t know if he really needs to train more, but also knows that it really can’t hurt. When he realizes that Gabe is supporting him now, he sits back up, not wanting to make Gabe feel weird about it. “Maybe. Perhaps we can try using training as a way come up with plans for what the humans can learn.”

“Perhaps.” Gabriel can’t help but wish that Sam had rested against him a little longer. He’ll take what he can get though, and instinctual trust in him is better than nothing. Sam has tensed up again around in the last few years, and he wishes they were back where they were, the soft hugs, little kisses on his cheeks. “What were you looking at today?”

“I was looking at concealment and distraction magic,” Sam explains, getting up to grab the book and show it to Gabe. He sits close to him, not bothered when they bump against each other. “Dean wants to take us on vacation to the island that Castiel took him to, but without planning for it, I doubt we’ll get.”

Gabriel knows that island, and he knows how in demand it is. There is no way even Dean manages to get it on such short notice. “And what is this magic for?”

“So that we can go on vacation at a human beach,” Sam explains with a smile. “Dean wants his vacation, and if I can help him get that, then I will. Besides, it’ll be good practice for the shelter.” He’s going to build those shelters no matter what. 

“Anything I can do to help?” Even if he’s not invited, Gabriel would love to help Sam. 

His first reaction is to say no, that he can handle the magic on his own, but Sam hesitates. He really needs to start learning to work with others, and if Gabriel offered, then he probably won’t think less of Sam for accepting. “That sounds good. This is what I have so far.”

Gabriel smiles, glad to be included, moving to his side. Any time he can spend with Sam is good time, even if they are working. Better than nothing. 

\----------

Dean pouts, crossing his arms as he stares at the humans swarming the beaches. “I just wanted to have some fun family time. No one told me that we had to request the island really far in advance.”

Castiel shakes his head at his mate, scooping him up in his arms while his legs wrap around his waist. “It’s alright, Dean. We can find something else to do with our time.”

“But I want to play in the ocean.” Dean keeps pouting, and Sam’s ready to start shaking his head at him. For such a strong person, sometimes he’s like a little kid. 

“Would a sea be good enough?” Sam asks, waiting until their eyes meet. “It won’t be the ocean, but you’ll still be able to swim in a large body of water.” 

His brother considers it, resting his head on Castiel’s shoulder. “What sea?”

“The Mediterranean Sea.” Sam did some research into it, and there are a lot of private islands in Greece that are up for sale. “We can get our own island, several them have houses already built, and we can relax. The Mediterranean is supposed to be beautiful.”

“Thanks, Sam.” Dean is all smiles again, nodding his head off. “Can we go right now?”

Sam nods, handing the location information over to Castiel and Gabe so that they can fly them to the island. Technically, he can fly himself, and they could have brought Dean’s harness, but that’s a little more demonic action than some angels will be comfortable with, so they let the angels fly them around on Earth. 

When they land on the beach, Dean starts to jump around like crazy. Sam admits that it’s a beautiful view, but this is a little over the top. Grabbing Castiel’s hand, Dean runs for the water, not caring that he’s still wearing his tunic, soaking it through in seconds. 

“He might be one of the most powerful beings in Heaven, but sometimes he’s like a little kid,” Gabriel announces, bumping shoulders with Sam. “How is he such a dichotomy? It makes no sense at all.” 

“That’s how he copes,” Sam explains, smirking at the actions of his brother. “When things become too much, when he wants to relax, he just lets it all go and becomes a child again. It works for him and Castiel, so I try not to judge too much.”

And what do you do, when it becomes too much for you? Gabriel’s pretty sure Sam just pushes it all down to try and ignore it, or he finds something new to research to cope. “You know that no one here will judge you if you want to play around in water the way Dean does.”

Sam hesitates, wanting to join Dean and relax but not sure how to. Does he really want to look like a fool in front of Gabe? Although if Dean and Castiel are an example, it won’t make a difference to his feelings. “Will you join me? I don’t actually know how to swim, but I do know magic that should help.”

“I’d love to.” Not wanting to make a big deal out of it, Gabriel heads for the water on his own, trusting that Sam will follow on his own. Sure enough, he can sense him close behind as they cross the sand. 

“Do you know how to swim?” Sam asks, a little worried about the water. He knows no one will let anything bad happen to him, but he also wishes he had a little more personal knowledge about swimming. 

Gabriel laughs, remembering when he and his brothers looked for magic to teach them to swim, a spell that made them automatically know all the strokes. They had a ‘magic handles everything’ phase. “I do, but I’m not sure I can teach you since I learned with a spell.”

“That’s cheating!” Dean declares, splashing up to them through the shallow water. “Cas made me learn to swim by practicing. You should have done it that way too.”

Still laughing, Gabriel ruffles his hair. “We did it with angelic magic, and we were bedridden for days afterwards. Rewiring your brain with magic isn’t a gentle process. Trust me, learning through practice is better.”

In that case… “Can you teach me to swim?” Sam looks up at Gabe, mentally crossing his fingers. Studying before to do it on his own would be better, but maybe he’ll be okay with this. “Just one stroke, soI don’t have to worry about drowning?”

“Of course.” Gabriel offers his hand, and after a short moment, a smaller hand joins his. They pass several hours learning to swim as Dean and Cassie frolic in the background. And yes, watching a seraph frolic is as weird as it sounds. 

By the time Sam is satisfied with his progress learning the crawl stroke, everyone is worn out, falling down to lie on the sand. The sand heats his back, the sun his front, and Sam relaxes into the sand. Not even Gabe’s hand brushing up against his hand makes him tense up. 

“We need to do this more often,” Dean declares, curling up against Cas’ chest, not opposed to the sand but liking Cas a lot more. “I like spending time with you guys outside of Hell and the library.”

Sam sits up, rushing off some sand and looking at his brother. “I have work to do though, things to plan. I can just go off and take a break whenever I want.”

Dean narrows his his eyes at his brother, not liking the sound of that. “All you do is work. You can take a break whenever you want because you work so much. At this point, you’ll have your shelters all planned out in a year more, at most. You’ve earned a vacation.”

Gabriel watches several different emotions flash across Sam’s face until he manages to push them back behind a mask. “And if you can’t take a break at the time, then you wait until the next time that you can.” A little tension leaves his back but not as much as Gabriel had hoped. 

“We’ll see. A little warning would be nice,” Sam settles on, lying back down on the sand again. He wants to spend time with his family, but he doesn’t always know how to. Research is what he does, how he defines himself, If he’s spending time with his family, he can’t be researching. 

Castiel wonders just what is going through Sam’s head as he stares up at the sun. He wonders if perhaps he should have pushed Sam to do more with his time than just research, maybe spend time with young angels. It’d be difficult for a demon, but the younger angels can be a little more open to demons than the older ones. 

But for now, he’s going to enjoy the sun and the sand and his mate in his arms. They can work through the rest of it later, support Sam through his goals, through growing up. He just hopes that the growing pains are too hard. 

**Author's Note:**

> Title came from a writing prompt post on Pinterest with chapter names to work with.


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